Aging Societies Should Make More of Mentorship

The past year brought a rich array of films depicting connections between a wise, older mentor and a younger person in need of sage guidance, in ways that often defied gauzy stereotypes, from art-house movies like Lily Tomlin’s Grandma to blockbusters like Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In Creed, Sylvester Stallone serves as a contrarian mentor and coach to the son of his deceased friend and former boxing rival, while The Intern pairs entrepreneur Anne Hathaway with former Raging Bull Robert DeNiro as the eponymous intern. (This last film sports the subtitle, “Experience Never Gets Old,” surely happy news to any Boomer thinking about their next chapter in the world of work.) Spoiler: Although DeNiro’s intern is technically the subordinate, he ends up imparting to Hathaway’s character important lessons on what it means to succeed at work and in life.

Why this theme — and why now? To some extent we’re witnessing a case of art imitating life. The explosive growth of the older population means a lot of leading actors are entering their post-midlife years, and a vast Boomer audience is apparently keen on continuing to see familiar stars playing out uplifting themes that speak to their own lives. That’s certainly the story from the box office: Creed was made for made for a modest $37 million, and has so far generated nearly $174 million in earnings; The Intern has done even better—producing $195 million in receipts on a $35 million budget.

For all the virtues of popular culture reflecting the potential of a multigenerational society, there is much we can do to help life better imitate art–by fostering the kinds of mutually-beneficial, cross-generational relationships being depicted in films like those mentioned above. This is important, in ways that extend far beyond sentimentality.

Research by Harvard Medical School professor George Vaillant, for example, demonstrates that older people who mentor and support younger people in work and in life are three times as likely to be happy as those who fail to engage in this way. And there is a substantial body of knowledge showing that younger people themselves can reap many benefits for this kind of sponsorship and support. Valliant goes on to argue that the benefit derived these connections isn’t just luck, it’s essential to human nature—stating simply that “biology flows downhill,” that we’re wired to come together across the ages.

If biology flows downhill, shouldn’t society as well—especially when society will contain more older people than ever before, while becoming more dependent than ever on the productivity of a relatively smaller cohort of young people?

Making this happen will take more than encouraging images from the silver screen: it will mean undoing decades devoted to keeping the generations apart—in every sphere of life including age-segregated housing, educational arrangements, and workplaces pushing out experienced workers. In short, it will take a whole new approach—and the good news is that in thinking about such a scheme we are not confined to the abstract.

This past year, tiny-but-prosperous Singapore committed to just such a blueprint, a $3 billion (Singapore) plan to make the most of the longevity revolution in ways that promote interaction and interdependence across the generations. The initiative aims, among other priorities, “to build a cohesive society with inter-generational harmony.”

We would do well to begin fashioning our own blueprint aimed at this end, starting with common sense steps focused on the development of multigenerational ties. We might begin with the workplace, creating new opportunities to encourage older individuals to work longer, in ways to make real the kinds of connections The Intern glorifies. For example, Encore Fellowships (developed by one of our organizations, Encore.org) places experienced corporate talent in non-profits, where these individuals provide a healthy dose of mentoring to younger leaders in the organization (along with applying their accumulated skills in areas like marketing, HR, and finance).

In communities, we could promote housing and other arrangements that facilitate day-to-day associations between older and younger residents, such as developing incentives for multigenerational housing inspired by existing models like Oregon’s Bridge Meadows and Illinois’ Generations of Hope (antitheses of age-segregated retirement communities—think of them as Un-Sun Cities). And while we’re at it, why not take some sensible steps like co-locating elder care and child-care facilities — a key component of Singapore’s plan.

Age-integrating education is another promising frontier. Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative and Stanford’s Distinguished Careers Institute have brought an older generation of students to two of our most vaunted campuses—and now the IE Business School in Spain and London-based New College of the Humanities are about to launch a Senior Fellows Programme that will do the same in a global context. What’s more, the age-integration of education need not be confined to the university sector. The Intergenerational Schools in Cleveland build mentoring, tutoring, and social support from older people into every aspect of the education of grade-school students, and have proven that doing so can dramatically increase student performance as well as well-being for the gray-haired set. (The Intergenerational Schools and Bridge Meadows are both winners of the annual Eisner Prize, recognizing groundbreaking models bringing together young and old.)

These are just a few ideas based on innovations already underway that might contribute to a more comprehensive scheme. And they’re hardly feel-good indulgences. Helping young people to learn while keeping older people vital is a recipe for social cohesion, and equally for boosting our economy by creating more productive citizens across much longer lifespans.

With some 11,000 Americans turning 65 each day, isn’t it time we begin debating and designing these and other ways to make the most of the multigenerational society that will be one of the hallmarks of the 21st century – when four generations will share communities, schools, and workplaces? Doing so can go a great distance towards bringing the great, unfolding drama of demographic change to a happy resolution.

Now that’s an opportunity—to paraphrase The Intern– that promises to never “get old.”